How Big Sky Internet Design Started
Big Sky Internet Design was founded by Tom Bruch alongside his wife Carrie in November of 1998. The internet was new and most people did not know what to make of it. Tom thought it might catch on! He built the first Big Sky website for their own horse operation, and once other horse people saw it, the phone started ringing.
What began as a small web design company serving the equine world has grown into a trusted partner for ranches, associations, and businesses across the country. Many of our clients have been with us for ten, fifteen, even twenty years and counting. That kind of loyalty matters to us. We work hard to earn it every year.
Today Tom leads the company day to day. Debbie Damiano handles design and client support. Carrie runs social media and contributes to the ideas behind the business. A small group of trusted specialists fills out the team for new builds and ongoing updates. Someone is always available, and that someone always knows your site.
Our sponsor booth at the 2012 NCHA Futurity
We Built This for Horse People Because We Are Horse People
Most web design firms do not know the horse industry. They will still take your business and figure it out as they go. We treat it like home. Before Tom ever wrote a line of code, he was training, breeding, showing, judging, and standing stallions. He has hauled horses across twelve states in a semi pulling a Sooner four-horse living quarters trailer. Not because the job required it. Because horses were his world.
Tom and Carrie raised their two children, Jake and Jessica, in the horse industry. Both showed extensively in the National Youth Cutting Horse Association, where Jessica also served as secretary. The kids earned thousands of dollars in scholarships through NYCHA donors and the scholarship stallion auction that Big Sky has run for the association for the better part of two decades.
Debbie worked at a hunter/jumper show barn and first met Tom and Carrie in 1992 when she was hired to help groom, exercise, and care for the horses at the barn where they were trainers.
When a client calls us, we are not asking what a futurity is, why a stallion service auction matters to an association, or how a breed registry works. We already know. The conversation starts at the level you actually need to have, not at "let me explain the basics of your industry to your web designer."
That is what working in this industry since 1998 buys you, and it is the reason our clients stay.
"In 1998 the internet was new and I thought it might catch on! We had trained, shown, boarded, bred, stood stallions, judged. We knew these people. We could talk to them like one of them. That is not something you can fake."
- Tom Bruch
Meet the Team
Tom Bruch, Owner
Tom holds a Bachelor of Science in Equestrian Science from Salem College in West Virginia. In 2007 he personally wrote the original code behind what is now our stallion auction platform, built first for the Pacific Coast Cutting Horse Association. That platform has raised over $8.7 million for horse associations since 2020 when we began formally tracking results. The full lifetime total is considerably higher.
Tom runs Big Sky day to day and is personally involved in every client relationship.
Outside of work, Tom is usually with Carrie and their giant schnauzer Sophie.
"We do not try to make businesses sound perfect. We make them sound real, and that is what people trust."
- Tom
Debbie Damiano, Website Design and Client Support
Debbie has been a part of our team since 2001. She handles design and client support and is the person most of our clients talk to day to day. She is the reason our 24-hour update guarantee is real and not just a marketing line. Send Debbie a change request and you will have it live the same day, usually within hours.
In her spare time she loves to hang out with her sons, Sean and Dillon, play with her corgis, and travel all over to see her favorite band, Daughtry.
"Debbie is absolutely AMAZING!! I feel like I am her only client!"
- Jill F., Noble Hills Farm
Carrie Bruch, Social Media and Strategy
Carrie co-founded Big Sky Internet Design with Tom in 1998 and has been part of the company ever since. She runs social media for Big Sky, helps shape ideas and planning, and supports the day-to-day work behind the scenes.
Carrie served on the board of the National Youth Cutting Horse Association for many years, supporting youth programs and scholarship efforts across the cutting horse industry.
She is also a health & wellness coach and finds great pleasure in helping others. Carrie enjoys travelling, spending time with Tom, and visiting their children, Jake and Jessica, and their grandson, Hayden.
Why Our Clients Stay
Most web design relationships do not last. The typical client moves on within three years because their designer disappears, the site falls behind, or the designer treated it like a one-time job.
That is not our story. Many of our clients have been with us for over a decade. Some have been with us for twenty years and counting. The pattern is simple: we answer the phone, we update the site when they ask, and we treat their business like it is ours.
What We Believe
That is what Big Sky Internet Design has been built on since 1998 and it is not changing.
Backed by Our Industry-Exclusive 3-Way Guarantee
28-day money-back. 24-hour updates. 100% transparent pricing. No one else in horse website design offers this.
Let's Talk About Your Horse Website
A free 30-minute conversation, no pressure, no script. We listen to what you are trying to do and tell you how we would approach it. Most of the time you have a quote before we hang up.
Or call us directly: 979-217-1544
"The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man."
- Often attributed to Winston Churchill